4056/Man-Sized Rats and other Unnatural Things

Man-Sized Rats and other Unnatural Things
Date of Scene:	27 April 2016
Location:	The Great Ruin
Synopsis:	Tomoe and Mort go exploring and find a world beset by a enemy they know far too well as they run into Elvish survivors of what seem to be a doomed world.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, Mortimer Balman, 979

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Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Exploring warp gates can be a bit dangerous, especially when one of the new worlds to latch onto the multiverse is the so-called Old World, and even more-so when it is experiencing the 'End Times'. Its definitely as bad as it sounds, and so, when Tomoe steps out of the warp gate she decided to explore, she is inside of a cave. The particular cave is walled up and appears to have been made rather inaccesible for some reason.
    Mortimer, however, has a bit more on his plate to deal with. Something, somewhere, drew him to the world and deposited him in the center of a village, smoking and burning. The streets are filled with bodies, some of which are being dragged away, and others being looted. Even worse, some are being eaten. The apparent perpetrators are rats the size of men, scuttering around. Some are wearing tattered clothes, others rusted armor. Despite their numbers, none of them seem to be paying attention to him as he is randomly dropped in the middle of the village square.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has no idea abotu this world, she's not certain about it. It wasn't the smart thing sure, but thes gates needed to be checked before someone else who couldn't even fight back against whatever horrors where lurking there. So she'd stepped through the gate and into this new world it wans't certain what she'd fingt and she was on her guard as she soon foun her way through and a world like this? WAs not what she expected to see.

"What in God's name?"

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Translation through the Warp is bad enough when one has a Gellar Field around oneself for protection. Unprotected, it leads to many horrible, Horrible things. Fortunately, that's only in the Immaterium around the Imperium of Man in their particular Milky Way galaxy! And further fortunately, Mortimer's journey isn't a very long one. Half a second's time at most! It is a distinctive thing that one does not forget, one way or the other.

     So a very frazzled Typhlosion-morph suddenly translates from the depths of some horrid nightmare realm, summoned by powers beyond his capacity to understand- or care about, for that matter- wearing an apron and holding a large wooden cooking spoon.

     Because he was in the middle of cooking dinner.

     Now he's not. Now he's here.

     And, judging by the way his right eye is twitching furiously, and the way the flames that wreath his head crackle and flare, somebody is about to have an awful horrible terrible no good very bad day.

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    It isn't until a few moments later that the Skaven milling about notice that Mortimer has arrivedwithin their midst. Why would anyone suspect someone showing up out of thin air like that? They wouldn't! So, they begin to close around him, chittering amongst themselves, potentially communicating or maybe just making rat noises. They are Skaven. They don't always make sense.
    However, their weapons being pointed his direction do make sense. No one would really mistake them as threatening at this point. "Man-beast come from warp." One chatters. "Man-beast have reason for coming to most honorable and prestigious of rat-hosts?" Apparently, the Skaven were more interested in questioning him first, before skewering him.
    
    Tomoe still has her own problems. She is stuck between a warp gate and a hard place. That hard place being a wall. However, the wall, made of bricks and mortar, seems to be in disrepair and could probably be pushed over and out of the way, as long as one does so carefully. The mortar holding it together is clearly rotted away and the bricks look like they have been weather night to the point of crumbling to dust. Whoever built the wall built it many, many years ago. But why would someone block off one of the warp gates? And who would do it!?

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Still twitching a bit, Mortimer looks down at the smaller, hunched over beasts. Then the /SMELL/ hits his nose. Filth beyond anything his poor nose has had to endure since the time he was rescuing Space Wolves from Plague Marines. The flames flare out wider, burning hotter, burning at free floating sulphur and methane. Reducing the stench ever so slightly.

     Screaming. Fighting. Monstrous cruelty and barbarism all around him.

     Was it still Monday? No, surely not.

     He leaned forward a bit, looming over the bestial creatures and glaring down at them. He can guess as to what's going on, but he's not going to make too many judgments.. ...Or he'll TRY not to, at least. By every God ever worshiped, these creatures REEK. "Your leader. Bring it here now. And make this noise /cease/." His gravelly voice rumbles a bit as he speaks, with smoke trailing out of the edges of his mouth. A subtle threat, a hint that the fire doesn't just come from his head. "Or will I be finding dinner.. Here?"

     It's not easy making licking the edge of a wooden cooking spoon look menacing, but it helps when you're tall and burning with enough fire to be mistaken for a kingly funereal pyre.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe now wonders was the wall made to keep people out, or was it ment ot keep something from making it to the gate as easily? She's ow concerned about this. She's going to look left and right to see if she could find some way to do it. The only reason she could see to block off a gate would be to stop some sort of zombie horde, from escaping, or some dangerous type of animals? Could there be a plague? Ideas swim thoguh her mind now?

"I don't like this."

Still she's trying to figure out if she should break the wall or not but for now she looks to see if there's an access point or not...She htne starts chanting in norse, gold runes fly about her and she attemps to spawn a recon frimilart spell. Hopefully it will spawn on the other side of the wall if she's lucky...

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    The Skaven don't seem too enthused by Mortimer's demands to see their leader. "No-no, man-beast no see great leader. Tell-speak why you are here-here?" The Skaven in question sort of pokes at him with his spear a bit to make his point known. Quite literally.
    
    Tomoe gets lucky, the thing that she summons appears on the other side of the wall. Now, whatever she had in mind was going to probably happen. Hopefully. Unless there was something really bad on the other side of the wall. But there were no screams yet.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Well. This is going nowhere fast. And people are still dying. This all needs to stop. Right NOW. One more chance, and then he starts getting violent. It is becoming increasingly clear that these creatures are the aggressors, and these people have next to no way to fight them. "That, little.. Creature... Is an excellent question. One I should hope your leader will be so kind as to answer fer me.."

     The offending spear is quickly grabbed, open-handed. And he clenches his hand down upon it. It cuts deep into his flesh, and blood can be seen dripping down.. It hisses and bubbles as it strikes the earth, boiling hot to an impossible degree. And what's more; the blade is not unaffected by this action. The wrought iron begins to melt from the extreme temperature he's generating around it- having your own psychic powers is fun, kids! Ask your local pyrokinetic how you too can do this cool fire shit!- the edge warping and twisting until hot iron can be seen running down his hand- cauterizing the wound- and dripping next to the blood.

     "Or should I just begin leaping to conclusions.. And become downright /unpleasant/?"

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    The Skaven skitter back for a moment as the spear is grabbed, but the display by Mortimer is enough that they start on their attack right away. Apparently, they were not there to negotiate. They begin to stab at him with spears and swords, and considering their rapidly growing numbers, there are a lot of them out there in the shadows.
    The cave that Tomoe appears to be inside of is atop an outcropping of rock and looks down over the particular village that Mortimer is currently being accosted in, and the fires can be seen from there. So, its probably the fairy will relay that information back in some fashion.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe now controls the 'fairy' to get a look around at the state of things here, trying to take in what's going on. IT's quiet for the most part but that leaves her on edge. She's not sure breaking hte wall is a good idea and won't until she's able to get more information from her little helper as it were. She's seeing though its eyes and spots wait is that mort? Okay she's got an idea of what she has to do. She readies a sword skill takes a moment focuse and will carve out a hole sall enough for her to get though, she can't leave mort out to dry here at all and so she'll hopefully squeeze through.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Well. Honestly, he wasn't too surprised by that. He had hoped they might be intimidated, but apparently they're brave.. Ah, and that's why. As he hops back away from the spears and swords that are rapidly prodding in his direction, he can see and hear and /smell/ oh Goddesses the SMELL, more of them coming at him. Bravery in numbers.. Trying to swarm him.

     It will not be hard for Tomoe to see signs of Mort and his grisly work, as flames wash over the first wave of ratmen trying to bury him in bodies. Fur and flesh are painfully easy to incinerate, and the rags that the beastly creatures wear only serve to make them more flammable. Plumes of smoke rise from the ashen remains, and flames spill around the street- but not to the houses, Mort is quite careful not to set any of those ablaze, not yet at least. Filling the streets with fire will work for now.

     The question is how quickly the ratlings will wise up and realize that swarming him will avail them little, and switch to archers- which he is also anticipating, these creatures do not look terribly advanced.

     "Come on.. COME! SHOW ME YOUR FURY, MONGRELS!" Roaring out a taunt that can easily be heard all across the village, and much farther than that.

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Tomoe would not be the only one going to Mortimer's rescue. As she breaks free of the wall that had somewhat entombed her with the warp gate, several elves appear around her, stalking out of the forest. They are swathed in forest-tone cloaks and wielding bows, and as they approach the edge of the over cropping, they take aim and fire down into the Skaven.
    
    Down in the village below, Mortimer might think that burning a few Skaven will be enough. Sure, fire is potent and the rats light on fire rather easily, but there are just.. so many! And they have a particularly heightened bloodlust at the time, having just ravaged the village. So, they continue assailing him. It might start to look a bit dire as a few jezails line up to take shots at Mort, but they are feathered with arrows a moment later. At the same time, a handful of elven warriors rush from the shadows, cleaving their way gracefully into the Skaven ranks. Tyravean is among them, her long, slender blade rending flesh and tearing through armor like paper.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe was not expecting anyone else as she pulled her tall frame through the hole in the wall. here and there her body distorted a bit red lines and wireframe could be visbale for a moment as she dust herself off and starts mocing in. She doens't expect toe see the elves she does as they move to fire into the Skaven. She does not yell to give awya the elves location but she does howeve spawn her wings. They are bright read but the light passes through them and they have the apperance of feathers. She then takes flight above the town and start to dive towards the Skaven as they go after mort. She is hovers above the chaos chanting in norse, golden runes fly about her body and then comes the rain of light. Bolts of pure light rain down seeking out the Skaven aiming to rain chaos through theri ranks and hopefully start to thin them out. She seems to have enough control to only target the Skaven alone...

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Being the man that he is, Mort does not do things by small measures unless absolutely necessary. The streets are quite literally being /filled/ with flames- until he sees the Elves arriving, and they're.. Being polite, and trying to fight off the filthy ratmen things, without even pausing to harass the humans? Well Hell's fire saves matches, that's something he can't remember seeing for a long time. 'Course that means he can't keep washing everything in fire. That's okay.

     Many of the flames start dying down without his will to keep them going, but plenty of rats are crispy or jumping around screaming to be put out for him to get some breathing room. Unfortunately, wooden cooking spoons are terrible weapons.. And by now it would have warped and burnt to ashes in all the heat anyway.

     The apron is ripped off. Shit is now /real/, son.

     Firearms? They have guns? Strange. No matter. Now the tricky part begins.. Must kill the swarming bastards in great numbers, but without harming the elves- and someone else has come in as well, flying on wings of red light. He roars out a command with considerable noise- you wouldn't think just by looking that someone his size could be so damned /loud/- while picking up a smaller Skaven warrior by the throat. "CIVILIANS! GET TO THE CIVILIANS! QUICKLY!" Hoping that Tomoe will realize he's shouting to her, he smashes his dance partner's face against a wall until the bone becomes mush, and begins running for the next largest swarming mass, flames trailing from his mouth.

     If these beasts can understand fear, perhaps the sight of a monstrous humanoid of flames drenched in the blood and ash of their brethren will inspire some in them, especially since he's barreling right for their lines..

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    Tyravean's blade slices through a fleeing skaven. It seems that the fires and the daemon giving them off had caused them to turn tail and run for their lives. However, the elf knew better than anyone that they would be back and in greater numbers. Normally that would not be the case, but these are not normal days.
    She and her coterie of warriors interpose themselves in front of Mortimer and she holds up her sword. "Halt, Daemon! Return to your foul realm or be struck down where you stand!" She glowers at him, apparently quite serious.
    For Tomoe? Not much going on. She is flying around outside of the reach of the Skaven so they don't bother her, which is rather convenient.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Mortimer stops as the Skaven begin to flee, laughing that hoarse, gutteral laugh of his. "That's right, run yah cowardly bastards! Next time, I'll- wait, dammit! I wanted to /capture/ a fe-" Pause. There's a sword poking at him /again/. Ears flatten to the sides of his head, looking down with a blase frown at the little elf. "Do I /really/ look like a /daemon/? I mean I know I haven't /showered/ yet today, but come on now."

     Ears perk up, flicking a bit, listening for the sounds of survivors. There must be a few humans that weren't slaughtered, eaten, or otherwise slain.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomeo has rained a good deal of carnage down upon the Skaven but isn't done yet she does see that mort's in more than a bit oa strange situation she does keep an eye out of people and she drops down on some suriving Skaven as they try to run, with Dawn breaker in hand she'll drop right into their ranks and start attacking them.

"On the moment you get a real fight?! You run?! Typical!" This would however get her a lot of attentyion as she's near Mort and Tyravean as she does this. She does have the same mind as Mort but first the Rats, right?

Tyravean (979) has posed:
    "You are neither human, elf, nor dwarf, so I see no alternative." Tyravean retorts. She holds her free hand out to her side somewhat, magical power swiftly gathering. "Now... last chance. Leave this realm or fall like the others before you!"
    At this point, the skaven were all but gone, having fled into the night en masse. It'd be practically impossible to chase them down now, as they bolted in every direction.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Mortimer's palm rises to meet his face, letting out a small, irritated groan. "Mmnngh.. Fer the love of the Goddesses..." Okay Morty, calm down. These are obviously a pack of fucking /savages/, not proper civilized people. "Okay, young lady.. In the first place, that is an association fallacy, and racist asides, along with being horrendously /rude/. In the second place.. If I were truly a daemonic entity, /why have I not set you and indeed this entire hamlet ablaze/?" Authoritative frown generally utilized by older generations to their juniors. "I have no magics nor devices for simply 'leaving this realm', and I don't even know where the blue bloody blazing Hells I am to begin with, so that's going to make "going away" quite difficult. /Isn't it/?"